Sun, 20 November 2011
Fiber Beat, Episode 24: "Haiku to Habu" featuring Takako Ueki & Darlene Hayes  There's a million crafters in Fiber City and we've all got a yarn to spin.  This episode of Fiber Beat is made possible with the support of Entangled magazine, our brand new sponsor from New Zealand! Entangled is a new digital only, quarterly fibercraft publication. Issue Three featuring Margot Selby, Rachel Lawrence, Jacey Boggs and Donna Druchunas is out now and available through Zinio One of my favorite things about local yarn shops - and a big reason why I think we should all support our local fiber retailers - is the fact that they bring authors, crafts people, knitters, quilters and fiber artists from all over to our communities where we can interact with them. The fiber arts are all about community - whether it's mothers teaching their children to knit or quilting clubs making quilts for ailing friends - these are activities we share with each other. Your local yarn store is the logical place for those interactions. I am lucky inasmuch as my local yarn store - A Verb for Keeping Warm - takes this responsibility very seriously and they go out of their way to bring artisans and manufacturers from far and near to the store to show their wares.  I first came into contact with Habu yarns several years ago. When I saw a compact ball of Habu Yarn with it's butcher block paper label and black san serif type, I was immediately intrigued. Then, when I saw the fiber content of that yarn (pineapple ramie, wool and steel, cotton tape) I had to learn more about the business and the people behind it. At that time, Habu creator and owner Takako Ueki, taught a class here in the Bay Area on how to read and use Japanese knitting patterns which are really architecturally and mathematically concise illustrations. The class was lively and Takako was a fabulous instructor giving us some insight behind the Habu mystique.  One of Takako's friends and colleagues is Darlene Hayes (pictured right), whose name is familiar to you if you were a fan of Hand Jive/Nature's Palette naturally dyed yarns (sniff, sniff). Darlene helps Takako at trade shows and she was also on hand for the Habu trunk show. The following people, places and things were mentioned:
Winner of Fiber Beat CONTEST for Episode No. 23 We had a $15 gift certificate courtesy of Anne Hanson for her Knitspot pattern library. The winner is Carol. Congratulations to the winner and thanks to everyone for participating! Fiber Beat CONTEST for Episode No. 24 We have two prizes for this episode: (1) courtesy of A Verb for Keeping Warm, we have a sampler of Habu's latest yarns from the yarntasting mentioned in the episode AND (2) we have the Fameuse cardigan pattern from Knit Cook, featuring Habu yarns and a recipe for brandied cherry ice cream All you have to do to enter is answer the following question. What is YOUR favorite Habu yarn? My favorite (or one of them, at least) is the Cotton Gima: soft, delicate, but surprisingly study. An enormous thanks to Takako and Darlene for joining us on the Fiber Beat. Big shout out to Fiber Beat sponsor, Entangled magazine. Finally, the most fashionable hug to all of you, our loyal listeners, for downloading and listening to our first THIRTY ONE episodes (audio/video) of Fiber Beat! If you like what we do, please consider leaving a review on iTunes. We used snippets of all the songs below in this episode. If you like the music, please support the artists (links provided for your convenience):
My name is WonderMike and I'll see you on the Fiber Beat!! Comments[15]
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- My Favorite Habu yarn is the Laos Naturally Dyed Handspun Silk -- so fine, and it's like a slik lollipop!
Thanks for a great podcast -- this episode and the whole series. You interview the people I find interesting, and the people you interview interest me even if I haven't known of them before! - I've never knit with Habu, but I'd really like to try! The copper sounds really neat! Also, I want to wave a hi because Verb is my local yarn store, too! I live right there in that Emeryville/Oakland/Berkeley mesh up. I don't make it over to knit nights because I tend to forget when Thursday rolls along!